US NGO pitches in to restore 140-yr-old legacy in Rajasthan’s Udaipur

A 140-year-old haveli in Udaipur, owned by the Bachhawat Mehta clan and built by military commander-in-chief of the erstwhile princely state of Mewar in Rajasthan, is being restored using the same material that was used during its construction.

An American non-governmental organisation (NGO) is funding the restoration work for the Bichli Haveli project.

Malvika Mehta, a member of the Bachhawat Mehta clan and an architect by profession, had started the innovative restoration work in 2017.

Later, she had got in touch with civil engineers from the School of Structural and Geo-technical Engineering at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) last year.

Material scientists from VIT had visited the three-storey structure, which has 46 rooms and two big courtyards, in March 2019 to collect the samples of existing lime plasters in a bid to study properties of the material.

Restoration Works International, a US-based NGO, is funding the restoration project aimed at promoting the use of lime as a contemporary construction material.

“In the structure, stone masonry was used along with mud mortar. Lime plaster, which was up to 70 millimetres (mm) in thickness, gave the artistic finishing touch called ‘ghutai’ or ‘arraish’ in local dialects,” said Malvika, who belongs to the seventh generation of the Bachhawat Mehta clan.

The lime plastered walls breathe to regulate moisture and interior temperature and get stronger with the passage of time, she said. Such buildings have a much longer life span. For instance, if maintained properly, the Bichli Haveli can survive for another 500 years, she added.

“It is my duty to enable the haveli to remain relevant -- forever growing and living,” said Malavika.

She said the chain of the transfer of traditional building knowledge was disrupted for some generations, especially since cement emerged as the mainstream construction material in the 1950s. “The current form of defective lime-based practices also led to a loss of faith in lime as a viable building material,” she added.

The project attempts to use the scientific and the industrial know-how to fill in the gaps of the traditional knowledge and evolve its own building material ecosystem as a happy blend of the old and the new, she added.

According to Dr Thirumalini, an associate professor of civil engineering department at VIT, the team from the university collected samples of existing lime plasters and concrete and conducted several advanced analysis and micro-structure studies to identify the type and properties of the material used in the construction over 140 years ago.

“The objectives,” he said, “was to characterise old and existing lime plasters from the site and simulate them with the currently available building materials.”

“The original material was re-engineered and applied for restoration of the haveli. During the process of material studies, an old lost technology of production of low-energy materials surfaced, highlighting the use of materials such as lime, plant extracts and hemp fibres to reduce the cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The original materials used were also found to act as CO2-capturing materials, helping in mitigating global warming, paving its way to be used in modern constructions for low-rise buildings,” said Dr Thirumalini.

According to an NGO official, the project aims to bring several benefits to the community such as job creation --- especially for women --- support local suppliers and services and also help the haveli residents to celebrate their heritage.